Note: The following article has been provided by guest blogger Kelly Kilpatrick of www.NursingDegree.net. I wish to thank Kelly for her contribution to my blog.
Get the Better of Anger
I’ve been told I have the weirdest post-anger reaction there is – I end up crying when I’m really angry and have just vented my frustration on the object of my wrath, more often than not leaving the person who just witnessed a tirade flabbergasted at the babyish tears. They’re unable to fathom me, but then I don’t blame them – I’m not too close to understanding my reaction either. We all have different ways of expressing anger – some people scream and shout , others throw things and so one. Anger is an emotion that all human beings feel, some more often and in more aggressive ways than others. While expressing emotions is better than keeping them bottled up inside, anger must be managed so that it does not end up becoming destructive to both yourself and the people who you’re angry with.
There are three ways in which you can manage anger:
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Before the feeling hits you – This is the best and most effective form of controlling yourself and your emotions. Unfortunately, it’s also the most difficult. Only people who are very mature and wise in the ways of the world are able to avoid situations that have the potential to anger them. They know it’s much better to maintain the peace rather than scream or argue and ruin both their peace of mind and that of others around them.
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When you’re feeling angry – Although it’s too late to stop the feeling from pouring into your heart, you do have some form of control over the emotion when you are conscious about the fact and acknowledge to yourself that you are getting angry. The next step is to prevent the emotion from becoming a full-blown rant and doing whatever it takes in that direction – leave the spot, maintain silence, turn away, count to ten, whatever works.
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After you’re done venting your rage – This can be compared to locking the stable door after the horse has bolted, but you can turn even a bad situation to your advantage if you’re willing to admit that you were wrong in giving vent to your anger and using this to understand why you lost your temper and to prevent it from happening again.
Learning to manage your anger is not something that happens overnight; it takes time and considerable effort, discipline and self-control on your part to become a master of the emotion rather than letting it lord over you and ruining your life in the process.
This post was contributed by Kelly Kilpatrick, who writes on the subject of lpn schools. She invites your feedback at kellykilpatrick24@gmail.com.